Hydrocarbons, molecules composed entirely of carbon and hydrogen, are the predominant components of fossil resources including coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The conversion of raw hydrocarbons derived from fossil resources is fundamental to the energy sector as well as the petrochemical sector. One of the more challenging classes of hydrocarbons to convert to higher value compounds and fuels is derived from natural gas, which is composed predominately of alkanes, mostly methane (CH4) but also ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), and butane (C4H10). Current methods to convert the alkanes from natural gas into higher value compounds (including olefins and liquid fuel such as methanol) involve processes that are energy intensive. For example, the conversion of methane to methanol (a liquid fuel and useful chemical precursor) provides a viable route to transition natural gas into liquid fuel and high value chemicals, but the transformation of methane into methanol by current technologies requires methane reforming to generate carbon monoxide and dihydrogen (known as “synthesis” or syn gas) followed by Fischer-Tropsch catalysis. For the formation of olefins, high temperature “cracking” is required. These processes require high temperature and pressure, and the infrastructure (including the chemical plants and infrastructure to deliver natural gas) for them is very expensive.
Despite the recent increase in natural gas availability and reduction in expense, scaled use of natural gas as a fuel for the transportation sector or a feedstock for the petrochemical industry has been limited by the expense of the infrastructure for the processing plants and for movement of natural gas. Thus, there is a need to overcome these challenges.